Shot Fired In Denny's; Customer Arrested

Witnesses Say Gunman Acted As If Nothing Had Happened

A 22-year-old Colorado Springs man was arrested early Friday after, police said, he fired a handgun inside a Denny's restaurant.

According to police, Dequan Ward walked into the Denny's off North Academy Boulevard at about 2:45 a.m. and sat down in a booth near the front door.

Witnesses said he pulled out a handgun and fired it into the floor under the table he was sitting at.

Customers who were in the restaurant dived for the floor, thinking they were being shot at, according to police.

The witnesses said Ward then got up, went to his car and put his pistol inside. They said he walked back in to the restaurant and sat down, acting as if nothing had happened.

Police were called and took Ward into custody.

Ward was slightly injured when the bullet grazed his leg, according to police.

Officers reviewed surveillance video taken in the restaurant and said he wasn't trying to hurt anyone.

"He was trying to get a rise out of the people inside the Denny's," said Sgt. Joel Kern. "You could tell (from the video) it was an intentional act and not an accident," he said.

Police said they believe Ward was drunk at the time of the incident. He faces charges of reckless endangerment, illegal discharge of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and prohibited use of a weapon.

Police took him to the grand slammer.

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